WELLINGTON: The biggest squid ever caught – which is 10 metres long and boasts a fearsome beak and razor-sharp hooks – may be small compared to others still lurking in the depths, experts in New Zealand said today.

It weighs 495 kg, has eyes the size of dinner plates and is estimated at up to 10 metres long.

Eyes the size of dinner plates

But that may be relatively small, scientists said after initial examination, suggesting other colossal squid (Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni) under the chilly Antarctic waters might grow much larger.

On a museum blog following the progress of the thaw, Chris Paulin – who is projects manager at the museum, which is also known as Te Papa Tongarewa – said Tuesday that the beak of the colossal squid has been exposed as the flesh defrosts.

The size of the lower beak, used to chop prey into bite sized pieces, is around 43 to 45 mm long. However, colossal squid lower beaks previously found in the stomachs of sperm whales have been as long as 49 mm.

Extrapolating the relationship between the length of the beak and body size from another smaller specimen being examined suggests the species could grow much bigger, Paulin said.

“Can we assume that this species reaches three quarters of a tonne in weight?” he asked.

“Gelatinous blob with seriously evil arms”

One of the scientists leading the examination, Auckland University of Technology squid expert Steve O’Shea, said it was difficult to say how much bigger the monster squid could grow.

“What we know from that one measurement is that the beak of this animal from the stomachs of sperm whales are considerably larger,” O’Shea told Radio New Zealand. “We make the leap to say that the colossal squid grows considerably larger than the 495 kg one we are currently defrosting.”

O’Shea has previously described the colossal squid, which has razor-sharp swivelling hooks at the end of its tentacles, as “a nasty aggressive sort of squid… a gelatinous blob with seriously evil arms on it.”

If the new specimen was cut into squid rings, they would be size of tractor tyres, and would taste of ammonia.

The specimen was caught as it ate an Antarctic toothfish hooked on a fishing boat’s long line in Antarctic waters in February last year (See, Colossal squid dwarfs giants, Cosmos Online). After being snap frozen, it was given to the museum, which has since been deliberating over the best way to defrost, examine and display it.

Tanked up

Suggestions such as using a giant microwave to defrost it were discarded, and on Monday the squid was placed in a tank filled with cold salty water to ensure it defrosts slowly without decomposing. The squid is so large that there was a risk the outside flesh would start to rot before the inside had thawed.

Defrosting is due to finish Wednesday when scientists will learn as much as they can before the squid is preserved in formalin to go on show in a massive tank at the museum later this year.

Colossal and giant squid both have eyes that can measure 27cm (11in) across – much bigger than any fish. Scientists found that huge eyes offer no advantages in the murky ocean depths other than making it easier to spot enormous shapes – such as sperm whales: here.

It may look slimy and slightly alien, but this newly discovered species of sponge is an ambassador for undiscovered critters living in the nooks and crannies of our magnificent planet. Damaging human activities, like bottom trawling in the oceans, are decimating ecosystems and wiping out creatures before we even know they exist.

The new sponge species, Aaptos kanuux, is named for the Aleut word for “heart” and was discovered in the deep underwater canyons of the Bering Sea. It was named by Greenpeace campaigner George Pletnikoff and St. George Eco-Office Director Andrew Malavansky, to emphasize that the canyons represent the heart of the Bering Sea. The sponge was collected by Kenneth Lowyck of Greenpeace Canada with a Deep Worker submarine at a depth of 700 feet in Pribilof Canyon. This is the first record of the genus for the Bering Sea.

Greenpeace journeyed to the Bering Sea in 2007 to document previously unexplored canyon habitats in hopes of strengthening the case to protect these important areas. Half of the fourteen species of corals and two-thirds of the twenty species of sponge we collected were previously unknown to live in the Bering Sea. These findings underscore the unique nature of these canyons, as well as how little is known about the deep sea in general.

With these new discoveries and documented evidence of habitat damage due to bottom trawling in these sensitive areas, Greenpeace is pushing forward with efforts to establish marine reserves in the Bering Sea. Of the 900,000 square miles of ocean managed by the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, almost none is protected from all fishing.

Turkey/Istanbul – Even the May Day posters of Freedom Solidarity Party are banned!

April 29, 2008

The posters and banners prepared by the socialist Freedom and Solidarity party were banned by the governor of Istanbul. The posters wrote, “To stop the Friend of the Rich, Enemy of the Poor (governing) JDP, All Out at May Day”

The governor has not allowed the May Day celebrations to take place in its traditional place, the Taksim Square, citing security concerns. Yet, only last night soccer hooligans were allowed to demonstrate at the same square without any government intervention. Taksim square has become the contested ground between the government and the May Day celebration organizers. In 1977, the largest ever May Day celebration at the square was attacked by a combination of US snipers and their collaborating Turkish security forces from the surrounding buildings killing more than 30 people and injuring hundreds. The ITT owned Intercontinental hotel had officially closed to allow only the US citizen snipers to take positions in the hotel prior to the massive celebration that year. Only few years prior, the owner of the Intercontinental Hotel, ITT had been involved in toppling the Allende regime in Chile to bring a brutal fascist military dictatorship. Except for the banned years after the fascist Turkish military coup, organizers have insisted and tried to celebrate the event in this most central place in Istanbul, while the government has attacked all attempts.

In a statement the President of The Freedom Solidarity Party Istanbul branch said, “Istanbul Governor Muammer Güler is not only against May Day, he is also preventing us from criticizing the government”.

The statement continued, “For years, the Taksim square is being used for many different social events from national soccer celebrations to ‘police weeks’; from new year celebrations to ‘Tulip festivals’. The square is only closed to the workers and the laborers. The governer said yesterday that there is no security at the square and Taksim is not an appropriate location for the celebrations. He indicated that if we celebrated there he will have the police attack us.”